The invention relates to a wheel carrier of a vehicle having a clamping seat connection to a suspension strut or the like. With regard to the prior art, reference is made to DE 10 2012 204 032 A1, as well as to DE 10 2006 057 664 A1 and DE 195 42 496 C1.
A fundamental goal in designing a vehicle, for example, an automobile, is to make the vehicle as safe as possible, in particular, in the event of an accident, i.e., when the vehicle strikes an obstacle (=crash). Vehicle components (=vehicle front end) located, as viewed in the direction of travel, in front of the vehicle interior should as much as possible not intrude into the vehicle interior as a result of a crash in order to minimize the risk of injuring vehicle occupants due to the crash. In terms of the front wheels of the vehicle, a design for the wheel-guiding control arms is well-known, e.g., for the front wheels of the vehicle wherein the wheel is pivoted laterally outward in a so-called offset crash, where to this end a rear transverse control arm strut is longitudinally deformable, i.e., can be compressed, in an energy-absorbing manner.
A special case of an offset crash is a crash having only a small overlap, i.e., a crash with an obstacle that is narrow in relation to the width of the vehicle. Such a crash can be critical in particular if the obstacle intrudes into the vehicle front end without simultaneously impacting the actual crash structure of the vehicle, which is formed by an axle beam and an engine mount in the case of a conventional automobile. If this type of obstacle intrudes as the result of a crash into the space between a front axle beam and a front wheel of the vehicle (automobile), this could possibly affect the suspension of this wheel such that the wheel tends to be displaced toward the longitudinal central axis of the vehicle. This can lead to disadvantageous deformations in terms of intrusion into the vehicle interior. An appropriately positioned add-on part is proposed specifically for this situation in DE 10 2012 204 032 A1 for a front wheel suspension of a vehicle. The part is displaced in such a way by an impacting obstacle or another object due to the vehicle's hitting this obstacle that, as a result, at least one of the articulated linkages of the wheel-guiding control arm is opened or destroyed, thereby releasing the control arm relative to the axle beam or the wheel carrier. The result is that the wheel carried thereby can be diverted in the desired direction away from the vehicle interior.
The object of the invention is to provide a further advantageous measure by which a front wheel of a vehicle during a crash of the vehicle (or a rear wheel of a vehicle in a rear-end crash thereof) can be, as it were, partially released from the wheel-controlling element thereof, with the result that this wheel can move away in the desired fashion and not endanger the vehicle occupants.
This and other objects are achieved by a wheel carrier of a vehicle comprising a clamping seat connection to a suspension strut or the like, which connection is clamped by a bolt-type connection, wherein a lever structure is attached to this bolt-type connection on the clamping seat connection of the wheel carrier, from which structure an impact section projects such that an obstacle striking this impact section in a vehicle crash, or another object striking this impact section as caused by this obstacle, effects an at least partial release of the suspension strut in or from the clamping seat connection as a result of the impact.
A measure is provided by this invention by which the connection between the wheel carrier and a suspension strut or the like through which the vehicle body is supported on the wheel carrier, which for a conventional steerable front wheel is called the steering knuckle or swivel bearing, is released or at least loosened in the event of a corresponding crash of the vehicle with/against an obstacle. DE 10 2006 057 664 A1 can be cited, for example, as prior art for a (conventional) clamping seat connection between a suspension strut and a wheel carrier or swivel bearing that can be loosened in the event of a certain crash according to the invention. For example, a lever structure according to the invention can be provided under the head of the bolt depicted in this last-referenced publication, which structure functions by the approach according to the invention.
A preferred orientation of the lever structure is provided specifically partially into a free space, which is located further up and proves to be critical (between the wheel carrier and axle beam or the vehicle body) than this space located to the side of the already-present so-called crash structure of the vehicle. If, in an advantageous development, the lever structure according to the invention is appropriately supported by a so-called support section, for example, on the clamping seat connection of the wheel carrier, this lever structure can by way of this support use the force, acting through the crash against the obstacle or other referenced object in the best possible way, to loosen or at least partially loosen the bolt-type connection securing the clamping seat connection, e.g., whereby the head of the bolt of the referenced clamping seat connection is broken off due to this impact force acting on the impact section. The lever structure with this support will thus deform to a lesser degree due to the impact force from an obstacle or the like than without this support, and a physical leverage effect can be utilized in terms of the support point creating a rest pole in terms of the inventive action of the lever structure with lever arms extending from this point. The same applies for another possible design of action for the lever structure according to the invention whereby it is not the referenced bolt-type connection (of the clamping seat connection) that is loosened or released due to a force from a vehicle crash acting on the impact section of the structure; instead the lever structure produces appropriate damage to the suspension strut or the like attached to the referenced clamping seat connection and this also results in an at least partial release of the suspension strut from this clamping seat connection.
In addition, the lever structure can preferably project by the free end thereof opposite the attachment section, which is called the securing section of the lever structure, into a separation joint of the clamping seat. The result is that the structure effects a motion expanding this separation joint (and thus “leverages open” this separation joint) due to the impact of the obstacle or the referenced object against the impact section, thereby further enhancing the loosening or releasing of the referenced clamping seat connection. Even if this latter aspect cannot be realized, this embodiment can at least ensure that the lever structure is not deformed in unwanted fashion due to a force acting on the impact section thereof, but instead can properly perform the function assigned thereto.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.